Beauty
by InaWorldWhere
Summary: In a world where the fight between humans, vampires, and werewolves have ceased, Caroline Forbes struggles to find normality. Between her loving friends, the slow-paced life in Mystic Falls, and her supportive partner, Enzo, Caroline needs something "interesting" to spin her world out of control just like it had been during the war. Klaroline.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The war has ended. One year ago today, all the bad people died by the hands of the good and these good people, many of them died along with the bad. But nowadays, who can tell the difference? What qualifies someone as good and another as bad? Why do both good and bad people do bad things? Who was good: the humans, vampires, or werewolves? It had been so long; so much suffering, misery, and death without any sign of hope. You just kept on fighting, pushing forward, knowing in your gut that someday, it will all be over. The only people you trusted were the people who were beside you since to beginning. For Caroline Forbes, those people were Stephan, Elena, Bonnie, Damon, Jeremy, Matt, Alaric, Tyler and Enzo. They fought for the right side and made it out of the war alive.

In the end, millions of supernatural creatures were wiped out. The death rate was so high that it didn't go unnoticed by oblivious humans. So it was agreed upon by the High Council of Witches to combine all of their ancestors' stored magic along with their own to force the humans to forget this war had ever happened or that supernatural beings even existed.

Sometimes it was easy to push the memories aside, because when you step through your front door and onto your porch, the neighborhood looks the same. The same children ride their bikes up and down the block, the same old lady next door bakes her oatmeal cookies on Sunday mornings, and the same dog barks at the same mailman putting envelops in his owner's mailbox. It's almost like the war never happened. That is, until you see a familiar face. This is the worst part for Caroline: when she looks at Matt. Elena, Bonnie, Stephan, Jeremy, Tyler, and Enzo's eyes don't shine as bright as they used to. Although their bodies remain youthful, their souls are aged with grief. When she sees her friends, the memories come rushing in and she's violently sucked back into reality and they are right there with her. But with Matt, when Caroline reaches out to hug him, he's a chipper as ever. He doesn't remember the pain and the years of seeing the world ripped to pieces. He never had to kill a first time, then a second, then a third, then a hundredth. He never had to grab a handful of a little girl's intestines to get a point across to her mother. He never sped through an entire mansion full of vampires and tore their heads off their bodies one by one just to see each roll to a stop on the rusty, wooden floor. He never-

"Good morning, beautiful," Enzo steps into the living room and kisses a startled Caroline on the head. "It's nice out there today."

Caroline smiles, "Since when did you become so predictable?"

"Maybe we've been together too long," he teased.

"Well, I guess this is it. I'm packing my bags." Caroline pretends to lift herself from the leather sofa.

Enzo raises his eyebrows in amusement and tackles Caroline back down saying, "You're not going anywhere, Blondie," as he nuzzles her long neck with his prickly chin.

Giggling, Caroline tries to push Enzo off of her. "You're suffocating me!"

"You're a vampire, a little air shortage won't kill you."

One minute she's laughing along, but the next she feels his weight sink heavier on top of her, his arms tightening around her even though he's not doing any of that. Balling up her hands, her throat begins to close in making it hard to breath. She tried to relax, knowing in her mind that all of these sensations are not real, but still nothing helped. The only thing she knew how to do was use all of her strength to kick Enzo off of her in time to inhale a huge gulp of air and calm herself down. Caroline looks over to where Enzo landed. The television broke his fall, but the screen split in half.

She rushes to help him up. Instead, he forcefully lifts himself off of the television, "I'm really sorry, Enzo. I got overwhelmed. "  
"I got overwhelmed..." he echos to himself as he angrily walks up the stairs to the bedroom.  
"Please hear me out-" Caroline pleads but he raised his left hand up to silence her as he continued up the steps.

Four years. That's how long they've been together. When Damon and Bonnie died on the other side, everyone scattered. All of her friends were dealing with this immense loss in their own way, their own time. The only person that remained irritatingly constant was Enzo. He would not leave her be. He admired that she wanted to single-handedly lift the curse on Mystic Falls when her friends have long since lost hope. In fact, he came in quite useful with his accent, good looks, charm, courage, and death threats. Somewhere along the way, having spent so much time together, he realized he wanted to be with her and only her. She was different from the bar pick-ups and wives he seduced to bed. With Caroline, it was genuine happiness, excitement, and meaningfulness. He didn't have to be anything other than himself because she was always herself. As he got accustomed to giving her little parts of himself, he grew on her. This cold-hearted beast who thought murder was humorous is broken. She has long since given up trying to fix what cannot be mended, but instead, learned to accept all of his imperfections. Their eye contact transitioned from quick gazes to deep, longing, stares. It was unspoken but they both knew that this game had bloomed into something more. No longer was he her sidekick but an equal partner that she relied on. Her friends could clearly see that they worked well together and they approved because, honestly, stranger unities have formed (such as with her and the original vampire).

However, years have past and they've gotten comfortable. Instead of wondering if he or she is who they wanted to spend eternity with, they simply stopped. It was just as it was meant to be. But just because their love was perfect didn't mean that the raging war had ended. As time passed, the body count shot up and the sight of evil hardened Caroline. She still beamed with hope but she was so scared. That fear turned into panic attacks. Every time Enzo tries to show her affection, these terrifying memories flash through her head. All this love will eventually vanish like so many of her friends and loved ones. Caroline knows that all this is doing is putting strain on their relationship but it's something she must work through and he isn't helping her. At first, he tried his best to comfort her and understand but each time she rejects his affection, he takes it to heart. Now, he just walks away and leaves her to deal with her own problems because there's nothing more he can think of to do.

_I love Mystic Falls. I love Enzo. I love my friends. I love my life. Everything is back to normal and I helped get it this way. Everyone is safe. All our problems are small again like when we were children. I like it this way. I will get better with time and I just hope he's still beside me when that time comes._

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! This is one of my first fanfics. I haven't written anything in a long while. Hope you like it. I'll try to update once or twice a week but be warned, I am a music major at a university. Things pop up.

I love Klaroline and the fact that Klaus is on the Originals and this whole Stephan thing is happening makes me childishly angry :P This fanfic is just for me to channel my 14 year-old girl fantasies. In the future, there will be steamy, hot and heavy parts so be ready!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Babe, I'm sorry about earlier," Caroline whispers as she lovingly places both of her small hands on Enzo's shoulders. He stops his busy typing on the computer to turn and face her. His expression relaxed as he brings her closer to him by her hips.

"Caroline, you have nothing to apologize for. You have suffered from these episodes for some time now. It is difficult for me to see you filled with so much panic and yet be able to do nothing. You will never understand how frustrating that is."

Caroline softly rests her chin on top of his dark hair. "Still, I am sorry."

"Nevermind that, love. I have something to tell you." The striking vampire's tone changed from one of helplessness to one of excitement. Caroline bends her knees to sit in his strong lap and looks into his eyes with a smile. "I know how much you love it here in Mystic Falls. And as of late, I have gotten quite fond of this little town myself. I never thought I would settle in one place and even less, a place like this but you are here. This is your home. And if our children could grow up to be half as beautiful and pleasant as you, my dear, this would be the perfect place to raise a family."

It took a few moments before Enzo's words became comprehensible. Children. Family. All of these concepts seem so foreign and so distant. Of course Caroline has thought about them. Her memory flashes back to a time when she was a seven-year old Goldilocks prancing around with her scrapbook of her imaginary wedding day. Everything must be just so-not too traditional, not too showy, not too long, not too white, not at all boring, not too religious, etc.-but that book had been safely hidden in a shoe box under her bed in her mother's house for way over a decade.

"Ah," Caroline swallowed to clear her throat, "You've put a lot of thought into this haven't you?"  
"Yes. Is there something wrong with that?" Enzo clearly was not oblivious to her hesitation and her lack of response.

"Not at all. I love that you did. But, our future children, whoever they may be…I just never considered them a possibility especially with my situation," Caroline explained but only sounded more guilty as she went on and finished it with an unbelievably weak laugh.

"Caroline," Enzo started calmly, "I thought we were on the same page."

"No, no, no" Caroline said trying not to let the desperation show, "We totally are! I am so on board! I-" Before she could finish, she felt the vibration of her cellphone in the back pocket of her shorts. "Hold on a sec." She jumps up from Enzo's lap and walks over to the other end of the room. The name on her phone read "Bonnie." Caroline vamps to the first floor and answers the call.

"You totally just saved me!" Caroline said with relief.

"From what?" Bonnie asked in amusement from her control-freak of a best friend.

"Enzo practically spelled out our future for us."  
"What?" Bonnie laughed.

"Kids, Bonnie! He. Wants. Kids!" Caroline was on the verge of exploding.

"Okay, Care. Calm down. He's not going to force you to have kids if you don't want to. Maybe you're just not ready yet or maybe you're just not cut out to be a mother. Some people aren't. Even as a vampire, you're still young. You have time to live your life and choose your own path. In fact, you have the rest of eternity."

Bonnie's words are always so soothing. They put everything into perspective. Caroline takes in a deep breath and lets all of it out slowly before saying "You're right. Having kids isn't one sided. I don't know if I want to have any and I don't have to until I'm sure."

"That's my girl. But _I_ called _you_ remember?" Bonnie responded with a laugh.

"Oh right. What is it?"

"You're still going to Stephan and Damon's tonight right?" Bonnie asked.

"Of course."  
"Well, Stephan called me earlier to ask me to bring some beverages and _also_ informed me that he invited the one Original we all despise with a passion."

Caroline's heart stopped. Well…it's already stopped but she felt it this time. A breath was caught in her throat. Klaus. She hasn't thought about him since…since. God, it's been years. Maybe it was after Enzo entered the picture, because everything just blew up in this tornado of crazy where you look to each coming day instead of to the good memories of the past. It's amazing how any mention of Klaus can bring back the same feelings she felt all those years ago. In her bedroom back home. At the school dance. The evening of the gala. Their session in the woods. It's as if he never left. He never went away to New Orleans. "I will walk away and I will never come back. I promise."

"Care? You still there?" Bonnie interrupted her stream of inappropriate thoughts.

"Ah, yeah, Bon. I'm here," Caroline released a nervous giggle. "Wow. That's a name I haven't heard in a long time."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Bonnie asked in concern. "I can ask Stephan to disinvite him."

"Bonnie, please. It's been _how_ many years now? I don't have any feelings for him because he's practically a stranger."  
"A stranger you slept with." Bonnie stated matter-of-fact-ly.  
"Thanks. That's like a slap in the face."

"Sorry. Things like that connection you guys had don't just go away."

"Well, it has."  
"Good. Anyway, I'll see you tonight."

"Okay. Bye, Bon." Caroline strength in her arms left as she let gravity drop her hands to her sides.

_Klaus_.

Author's Note:

Hello everyone!

Thanks for reading the second update! Please remember to tell me what you think. I'll try to update more often so you don't wait an unreasonable amount of time between chapters.

Hope you have a nice day!


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